Printer and ink cartridge attached thereto

ABSTRACT

A printer that enables required data, such as a remaining quantity of each ink, to be written securely even when a storage device having a relatively low allowable frequency of rewriting is applied for a storage element mounted on an ink cartridge. An ink cartridge that is detachably attached to the printer. In the printer, a sequential access-type EEPROM having a relatively low allowable frequency of rewriting is applied for storage elements incorporated in both a black ink cartridge and a color ink cartridge. A print controller in the printer has a memory, for which an EEPROM (or a DRAM) is applicable. Data relating to each ink cartridge, such as a remaining quantity of each ink in the ink cartridge, are stored into both the EEPROM of the print controller and a memory cell included in the storage element of the ink cartridge. The writing operation of data into the EEPROM of the print controller is carried out at every time the remaining quantity of each ink is calculated, whereas the writing operation into the memory cell in the storage element of the ink cartridge is carried out restrictedly in response to a power down instruction. This arrangement causes the frequency of writing into the storage element of the ink cartridge to be lower than the frequency of writing into the EEPROM of the print controller. This accordingly fulfills the requirements, that is, the sufficient reliability of data and the restriction of the allowable frequency of rewriting.

Notice: More than one reissue application has been filed for the reissueof U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,670. The reissue applications are applicationSer. Nos. 11/056,608 (the present application) and 09/996,986.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/996,986,which is a reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,670, filed on Nov. 26, 1999,for PRINTER AND INK CARTRIDGE ATTACHED THERETO.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, such as an inkjet printer and an ink jet plotter, and also to an ink cartridgedetachably attached to a printer main body of the printing apparatus.More specifically the invention pertains to a technique of processingand storing required pieces of information in the ink cartridge.

2. Description of the Related Art

A printing apparatus such as the ink jet printer and the ink jet plottermainly includes an ink cartridge, in which one or plural inks are kept,and a printer main body with a print head to carry out actual printingoperations on a printing medium. The print head ejects ink fed from theink cartridge onto the printing medium, such as printing paper, so as toimplement printing on the printing medium. The ink cartridge is designedto be detachably attached to the printer main body. A new ink cartridgehas a predetermined quantity of ink kept therein. When the ink kept inan ink cartridge runs out, the ink cartridge is replaced with a new one.Such a printing apparatus is arranged to cause the printer main body tocalculate the remaining quantity of ink in the ink cartridge based onthe amount of ink ejected from the print head and to inform the user ofa state of running out of the ink, in order to prevent the printingprocedure from being interrupted by the out-of-ink.

Another proposed ink cartridge stores certain pieces of information,such as the type and the capacity of each ink kept in the ink cartridge,in advance. These pieces of information are stored, for example, in theform of a barcode, in the ink cartridge. The printer, to which such anink cartridge is attached, scans the barcode and reads the certainpieces of information, such as the type of ink kept in the inkcartridge, thereby enabling a printing process suitable for the ink tobe carried out.

While the certain pieces of information, such as the type of each inkkept in the ink cartridge, are stored in the ink cartridge, other piecesof information relating to the ink cartridge, such as a remainingquantity of each ink, are stored in the printer or a printer driver forthe printer. In the event that the ink cartridge is replaced with a newone in the course of a printing process, the information relating to theink cartridge, such as the remaining quantity of each ink, may be lostor made incorrect.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is thus to provide a printer thatadequately processes and stores information relating to a cartridge,such as a remaining quantity of each ink, as well as a cartridge, whichis detachably attached to such a printer, without increasing themanufacturing cost of the ink cartridge.

At least part of the above and the other related objects is actualizedby a printer, to which a cartridge is detachably attached, the cartridgekeeping ink therein and having a rewritable non-volatile memory, whereinthe ink kept in the cartridge is transferred from a print head mountedon a printer main body of the printer to a printing medium, so as toimplement printing. The printer includes: a memory writing unit thatwrites plural pieces of information relating to the cartridge into therewritable non-volatile memory of the cartridge at a preset timing andthereby at a certain frequency; a rewritable storage device incorporatedin the printer main body of the printer; and an information writing unitthat writes specific information into the rewritable storage device ofthe printer main body at a specified frequency that is higher than thecertain frequency, at which the plural pieces of information relating tothe cartridge are written into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge,the specific information being identical with at least part of theplural pieces of information relating to the cartridge.

The present invention is also directed to a method of managinginformation in a printer, which corresponds to the configuration of theprinter discussed above. In the method, a cartridge, which is detachablyattached to the printer, keeps ink therein and has a rewritablenon-volatile memory, wherein the ink kept in the cartridge istransferred from a print head mounted on a printer main body of theprinter to a printing medium, so as to implement printing. The methodincludes the steps of: writing plural pieces of information relating tothe cartridge into the rewritable non-volatile memory of the cartridgeat a preset timing and thereby at a certain frequency; and writingspecific information into a rewritable storage device incorporated inthe printer main body of the printer at a specified frequency that ishigher than the certain frequency, at which the plural pieces ofinformation relating to the cartridge are written into the non-volatilememory of the cartridge, the specific information being identical withat least part of the plural pieces of information relating to thecartridge.

In the printer and the corresponding method of the present invention,the rewritable non-volatile memory is mounted on the cartridge, which isdetachably attached to the printer. Information relating to thecartridge is written into the storage device incorporated into theprinter main body of the printer at a specified frequency, which ishigher than a certain frequency, at which the information is writteninto the non-volatile memory of the cartridge. The information relatingto the cartridge is thus updated at the higher frequency in the storagedevice of the printer, whereas the writing operation of the informationinto the non-volatile memory of the cartridge is restricted. Thisarrangement enables a storage element having a relatively low allowablefrequency of rewriting to be applied for the non-volatile memory of thecartridge. This arrangement also prevents a possible trouble, that is,making the writing operation of information into the non-volatile memoryincomplete, which occurs in a conventional structure when the powersupply is suddenly cut off, for example, by power failure or by pullingthe power plug out of the socket, in the course of the writing operationinto the non-volatile memory of the cartridge.

The difference in frequency of writing may be attained by a specificconfiguration, wherein data are written into the non-volatile memory atthe preset timing, whereas data are written into the storage device ofthe printer main body at the preset timing as well as at another timing.

In accordance with one preferable application of the present invention,the plural pieces of information are written into the rewritablenon-volatile memory of the cartridge at a power-off time of the printerand/or at a time of replacement of the cartridge. While the power supplyto the printer continues and the same cartridge is used, it is thoughtthat the contents of the storage in the storage device of the printermain body accurately reflect the information relating to the cartridgeattached to the printer.

In accordance with one preferable application of the present invention,the specific information is written into the rewritable storage deviceon completion of printing with regard to one page or on completion ofprinting with regard to at least one raster line. This is because theinformation relating to the cartridge is generally updated with theprogress of the printing operation. By way of example, the amount of inkconsumption gradually increases with the progress of the printingoperation. It is accordingly effective to write the informationregarding the amount of ink consumption into the storage device of theprinter main body when the printing operation is completed with regardto one page or with regard to at least one raster line.

In accordance with another preferable application of the presentinvention, the printer further includes a cleaning unit that isactivated in response to a predetermined operation, so as to carry out ahead cleaning process, which causes the print head to eject apredetermined quantity of ink. In this structure, the specificinformation is written into the rewritable storage device at a timingwhen the cleaning unit is activated. This is because the head cleaningprocess consumes a relatively large quantity of ink. The timing ofwriting information into the storage device may be in the course of thehead cleaning process, on completion of the head cleaning process, orbefore the head cleaning process is initiated.

In accordance with one preferable embodiment of the printer, thenon-volatile ink transmits data by serial access. In this case, theplural pieces of information are written into the non-volatile memory ofthe cartridge in synchronism with a clock for specifying an address. Thenon-volatile memory that transmits data by serial access is generallyinexpensive and desirably applied for the expendable cartridge.

In accordance with another preferable embodiment of the printer, therewritable storage device of the printer main body is a non-volatilememory that holds contents of storage even after a power-off operationof the printer. In this case, the information in the storage device ofthe printer main body, which is rewritten at the high frequency, is kepteven in the case of an accidental power off. In accordance with stillanother preferable embodiment of the printer, a writing rate of therewritable storage device of the printer main body is higher than awriting rate of the rewritable non-volatile memory of the cartridge.Applying a high-speed storage element for the storage device of theprinter main body that is rewritten at a high frequency enables thehigh-speed access in the printer main body and favorably reduces thetotal access time. Either a DRAM or an SRAM may be applicable as thehigh-speed storage element. The DRAM is generally inexpensive andreadily available. The SRAM, on the other hand, does not require therefreshing process and is readily backed up.

The rewritable storage device of the printer main body may be disposedin a control IC, which directly controls the writing operation of theplural pieces of information into the non-volatile memory of thecartridge. In this structure, the printer main body is in charge ofcontrolling the writing operation of data into the storage device of theprinter main body incorporated in the control IC. In the case wherethere is a requirement for writing data into the non-volatile memory ofthe cartridge, for example, in the case of power failure, however, thecontrol IC is in charge of controlling the writing operation into thenon-volatile memory of the cartridge. This arrangement favorablyrelieves the loading to the printer main body, and enables the writingoperation into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge to be carriedout quickly. When there is a requirement for writing data, for example,in the case of cutting the power supply off, the printer main bodyoutputs a writing instruction to the control IC. The control IC receivesthe writing instruction and directly writes the contents of storage inthe storage device disposed therein into the non-volatile memory of thecartridge.

The printer may have a carriage, to which both a black ink cartridge, inwhich black ink is kept, and a color cartridge, in which a plurality ofdifferent color inks are kept, are detachably attached. In general, theprinter may have a structure that receives any cartridge that keeps onlyone ink or a combination of selected inks. In this structure, anon-volatile memory should be provided in each cartridge, that is,respectively in the black cartridge and the color cartridge. Theinformation relating to each cartridge is written into the non-volatilememory of the cartridge.

Although the writing operations into the non-volatile memory of thecartridge and into the rewritable storage device of the printer mainbody are carried out at different frequencies, the information iswritten into both the non-volatile memory and the rewritable storagedevice at some identical timings. For example, it is desirable that thedata are written into both the storage device of the printer main bodyand into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge at a power-off time ofthe printer. In this case, the information may be written into thenon-volatile memory of the cartridge, before the information is writteninto the storage device of the printer main body. This arrangementcauses the contents of storage in the non-volatile memory of thecartridge to be securely updated. Even in the event that the cartridgeis replaced with a new one during the power-off time of the printer,this enables the accurate pieces of information to be stored in thenon-volatile memory of the cartridge.

In accordance with an alternative structure, the information is writteninto the non-volatile memory of the cartridge, after the writingoperation of the information into the storage device of the printer mainbody is completed. In this case, a non-volatile storage element isapplied for the rewritable storage device of the printer main body. Thisenables the storage device of the printer main body to securely hold theinformation relating to the cartridge. A storage element that enablesthe high-speed access is generally applied for the storage device of theprinter main body. This advantageously completes the writing operationof the information relating to the cartridge within a short time period.

The printer and the corresponding method may further has a structurethat determines whether or not the contents of storage in thenon-volatile memory of the cartridge are coincident with the contents ofstorage in the rewritable storage device of the printer main body at atime of power supply to the printer and/or at a time of initiating areplacement of the cartridge. The structure reconciles the contents ofstorage in one of the non-volatile memory and the rewritable storagedevice with the contents of storage in the other of the non-volatilememory and the rewritable storage device, in the case where it isdetermined that the contents of storage in the non-volatile memory arenot coincident with the contents of storage in the rewritable storagedevice. The contents of storage having the higher precision should bechosen preferentially over the other, based on a sequence of the writingoperation discussed above. One possible application writes theinformation relating to the cartridge together with informationregarding a writing time and refers to the information regarding thewriting time to determine which contents of storage should bepreferential over the other.

The present invention is further directed to a cartridge keeping inktherein and having a rewritable non-volatile memory, the cartridge beingdetachably attached to a printer, wherein information relating to thecartridge is written into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge at acertain frequency that is lower than a specified frequency, at which theinformation relating to the cartridge is written into a storage deviceincorporated in a printer main body of the printer.

The timings of the writing operations into the non-volatile memory ofthe cartridge and into the storage device of the printer main body arethose discussed above with regard to the printer of the presentinvention. For example, the information relating to the cartridge may bewritten into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge at a power-offtime of the printer and/or at a time of replacement of the cartridge.

The applicable type of the non-volatile memory, the sequence of thewriting operations into the storage device of the printer main body andthe non-volatile memory of the cartridge, and the configuration ofcarrying out the writing operation into the non-volatile memory of eachcartridge are identical with those discussed above with regard to theprinter of the present invention.

In accordance with one preferable application of the present invention,the cartridge has an ink reservoir that is parted into at least threeink chambers, in which at least three different inks are kept. In thiscase, the non-volatile memory of the ink cartridge has a plurality ofinformation storage areas, in which plural pieces of informationregarding quantities of the at least three different inks are storedrespectively and independently. It is practical that a storage capacityof at least one byte is allocated to each of the plurality ofinformation storage areas. The respective inks have different amounts ofink consumption. It is accordingly desirable to store the amount of inkconsumption for each ink.

In accordance with another preferable application of the presentinvention, the cartridge has an ink reservoir that is parted into atleast five ink chambers, in which at least five different inks are kept.The at least five different inks include three deep color inks and twolight color inks, which correspond to two deep colors among the threedeep color inks. In a concrete example, the three deep color inks arecyan, magenta, and yellow, and the two light color inks are light cyanand light magenta.

In accordance with one preferable embodiment of the cartridge, thenon-volatile memory has a specific writing area, in which the pluralpieces of information are written, on one end of a memory space thereof.The end area of the memory space readily generates an address to beaccessed preferentially. Namely the end area of the memory space isoften included in an area accessed first as default. In the non-volatilememory of sequential access type, the memory is sequentially accessedfrom a head position or an end position thereof. Assuring the writingarea in one end of the memory space thus favorably enables theinformation relating to the cartridge, for example, the remainingquantity of ink in the cartridge, to be stored quickly and securely,while reducing the manufacturing cost of the cartridge.

A programmable ROM (EEPROM) that can be erased electrically may beapplied for the non-volatile memory. A flash ROM is also applicable forthe non-volatile memory.

In the configuration of the present invention, the information relatingto the cartridge may include a piece of information regarding aremaining quantity of each ink in the ink cartridge or a piece ofinformation regarding a cumulative amount of ink consumption with regardto the cartridge. The information may also include pieces of informationregarding the type of ink kept in the ink cartridge and the term ofvalidity of the cartridge. The information may further include pieces ofinformation regarding the time elapsing after unsealing the cartridgeand the frequency of attachment and detachment of the cartridge to andfrom the printer main body, both of which are measured by the printermain body. The information may further include the pieces of informationregarding the year, month, and date of manufacture of the cartridge andthe capacity of each ink in the cartridge. Part of these pieces ofinformation are not changed by the use of the cartridge and may therebybe kept in a non-rewritable area.

These and other objects, features, aspects, and advantages of thepresent invention will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription of the preferred embodiments with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the present invention and many of theattendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the samebecomes better understood by reference to the following detaileddescription when considered in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the structure of a main partof a printer 1 in one embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the internal structure of theprinter 1 including a print controller 40;

FIG. 3 shows a layout of nozzle openings 23 formed on the print head 10shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are perspective views respectively illustrating thestructures of an ink cartridge 107K and a cartridge attachment unit 18;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view illustrating an attachment state in which theink cartridge 107K shown in FIG. 4A is attached to the cartridgeattachment unit 18 shown in FIG. 4B;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a storage element80 incorporated in the ink cartridges 107K and 107F attached to theprinter 1 shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7A is a flowchart showing a processing routine to write data intothe storage element 80;

FIG. 7B is a timing chart showing the timing of execution of theprocessing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7A;

FIG. 8 shows a data array in the storage element 80 incorporated in theblack ink cartridge 107K attached to the printer 1 shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 shows a data array in the storage element 80 incorporated in thecolor ink cartridge 107F attached to the printer 1 shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 shows a data array in an EEPROM 90 incorporated in the printcontroller 40 of the printer 1 shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a processing routine executed at a timeof power supply to the printer 1;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a processing routine to calculate theremaining quantity of ink;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a processing routine to store data intothe storage elements 80, which is executed by interruption in responseto a power down instruction;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a connection of a control IC 200 in asecond embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a memory structure in onemodification of the second embodiment; and

FIG. 16 is a perspective view illustrating the structure of anothercolor ink cartridge as one modification of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT First Embodiment GeneralStructure of Printing Apparatus

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the structure of a main partof an ink jet printer 1 in one embodiment according to the presentinvention. The printer 1 of the embodiment is used in connection with acomputer PC, to which a scanner SC is also connected. The computer PCreads and executes an operating system and predetermined programs tofunction, in combination with the printer 1, as a printing apparatus.The computer PC executes an application program on a specific operatingsystem, carries out processing of an input image, for example, read fromthe scanner SC, and displays a processed image on a CRT display MT. Whenthe user gives a printing instruction after the required imageprocessing, for example, retouching the image on the CRT display MT, isconcluded, a printer driver incorporated in the operating system isactivated to transfer processed image data to the printer 1.

The printer driver converts original color image data, which are inputfrom the scanner SC and subjected to the required image processing, tocolor image data printable by the printer 1 in response to the printinginstruction, and outputs the converted color image data to the printer1. The original color image data consists of three color components,that is, red (R), green (G), and blue (B). The converted color imagedata printable by and output to the printer 1 consists of six colorcomponents, that is, black (K), cyan (C), light cyan (LC), magenta (M),light magenta (LM), and yellow (Y). The printable color image data arefurther subjected to binary processing, which specifies the on-off stateof ink dots. These image processing and data conversion processes areknown in the art and are thus not specifically described here. Theseprocesses may be carried out in the printer 1, in place of the printerdriver included in the computer PC, as discussed later.

The following describes the basic structure of the printer 1. Referringto FIG. 1 and the block diagram of FIG. 2, the printer 1 has a printcontroller 40 that is in charge of control procedures and a print engine5 that actually performs ejection of ink. The print controller 40 andthe print engine 5 are incorporated in a printer main body 100. Theprint engine 5 included in the printer main body 100 has a print head10, a sheet feed mechanism 11, and a carriage mechanism 12. The printhead 10 is integrally formed with a cartridge attachment unit 18 toconstruct a carriage 101. The print head 10, which is an ink jet type,is mounted on a specific face of the carriage 101 that faces a sheet ofprinting paper 105, that is, a lower face of the carriage 101 in thisembodiment. The carriage mechanism 12 includes a carriage motor 103 anda timing belt 102. The carriage motor 103 drives the carriage 101 viathe timing belt 102. The carriage 101 is guided by a guide member 104and moves forward and backward along a width of the printing paper 105by means of normal and reverse rotations of the carriage motor 103. Thesheet feed mechanism 11 that feeds the printing paper 105 includes asheet feed roller 106 and a sheet feed motor 116.

A black ink cartridge 107K and a color ink cartridge 107F, which will bedescribed later, are detachably attached to the cartridge attachmentunit 18 of the carriage 101. The print head 10 receives supplies of inksfed from these ink cartridges 107K and 107F and ejects ink dropletsagainst the printing paper 105 with a movement of the carriage 101, soas to create dots and print a picture image or letters on the printingpaper 105.

Each of the ink cartridges 107K and 107F has a cavity therein forkeeping ink, which is prepared by dissolving or dispersing a dye or apigment in a solvent. The cavity for keeping ink therein is generallyreferred to as an ink chamber. The black ink cartridge 107K has an inkchamber 117K, in which black ink (K) is kept. The color ink cartridge107F has a plurality of ink chambers 107C, 107LC, 107M, 107LM, and 107Y,which are formed separately. Cyan ink (C), light cyan ink (LC), magentaink (M), light magenta ink (LM), and yellow ink (Y) are keptrespectively in these ink chambers 107C, 107LC, 107M, 107LM, and 107Y.The print head 10 receives supplies of various color inks fed from therespective ink chambers 107C, 107LC, 107M, 107LM, and 107Y, and ejectsink droplets of various colors to implement color printing.

A capping unit 108 and a wiping unit 109 are disposed on one end of theprinter 1, which is included in a non-printable area. The capping unit108 closes nozzle opening formed on the print head 10 during thestoppage of printing operation. The capping unit 108 effectivelyprevents the solvent component in the ink from being vaporized duringthe stoppage of a printing operation. Preventing the vaporization of thesolvent component in the ink favorably depresses an increase inviscosity of ink and formation of an ink film. Capping the nozzleopenings during the stoppage of a printing operation effectivelyprevents the nozzles from being clogged. The capping unit 108 also has afunction of collecting ink droplets ejected from the print head 10 by aflushing operation. The flushing process is carried out to eject inkwhen the carriage 101 reaches the end of the printer 1 during theexecution of the printing operation. The flushing process is one of theactions for preventing the nozzles from being clogged. The wiping unit109 is located in the vicinity of the capping unit 108 to wipe thesurface of the print head 10, for example, with a blade, so as to wipeout the ink residue or paper dust adhering to the surface of the printhead 10. In addition to these actions, the printer 1 of the embodimentcarries out a sucking operation with regard to the nozzles, for example,in the case of an abnormality occurring due to invasion of bubbles intothe nozzles. The sucking process presses the capping unit 108 againstthe print head 10 to seal the nozzle openings, activates a suction pump(not shown), and makes a passage connecting with the capping unit 108 ina negative pressure, so as to cause ink to be sucked out of the nozzleson the print head 10. The flushing operation, the wiping operation, andthe sucking operation are included in a head cleaning procedure. Thewiping operation may be carried out by an automatic mechanism that usesa preset blade and automatically wipes the surface of the print head 10with forward and backward movements of the carriage 101. In this case,only the flushing operation and the sucking operation are included inthe active head cleaning procedure.

A control circuit of the printer 1 is discussed with FIG. 2, which is afunctional block diagram showing the internal structure of the ink jetprinter 1 of the embodiment. The print controller 40 has an interface 43that receives various data, such as print data, transmitted from thecomputer PC, a RAM 44 in which the various data including print data arestored, and a ROM 45 in which programs for various data processing arestored. The print controller 40 further has a controller 46 including aCPU, an oscillator circuit 47, a driving signal generator circuit 48that generates a driving signal COM given to the print head 10, and aparallel input-output interface 49 that transmits the print datadeveloped to dot pattern data and the driving signal COM to the printengine 5.

Control lines of a switch panel 92 and a power source 91 are alsoconnected to the print controller 40 via the parallel input-outputinterface 49. The switch panel 92 has a power switch 92a for turning thepower source 91 on and off, a cartridge switch 92b for giving aninstruction to replace the ink cartridge with a new one, and a cleaningswitch 92c for giving an instruction to perform the forcible cleaning ofthe print head 10. When the power switch 92a on the switch panel 92 isoperated to input an instruction of a power-off operation, the printcontroller 40 outputs a power down instruction as a requirement ofnon-maskable interruption NMI to the power source 91. The power source91 receives the power down instruction NMI and falls into a stand-bystate. In the stand-by state, the power source 91 supplies a stand-byelectric power to the print controller 40 via a power supply line (notshown). The standard power-off operation carried out via the switchpanel 92 thus does not completely cut off the power supply to the printcontroller 40.

The print controller 40 monitors whether or not a preset electric poweris supplied from the power source 91, and outputs the power downinstruction NMI when a power plug is pulled out of a socket. The powersource 91 has an auxiliary power unit, for example, a capacitor, toensure a power supply for a predetermined time period, for example, 0.3seconds, after the power plug is pulled out of the socket. The printcontroller 40 also outputs the power down instruction NMI when thecartridge switch 92b on the switch panel 92 is operated to give aninstruction of replacing the ink cartridge.

The print controller 40 has an EEPROM 90 mounted thereon as a memory ofthe printer main body 100, which stores information relating to theblack ink cartridge 107K and the color ink cartridge 107F mounted on thecarriage mechanism 12 as shown in FIG. 1. The EEPROM 90 stores pluralpieces of specific information including information relating toquantities of inks in the black ink cartridge 107K and the color inkcartridge 107F, as discussed later in detail. The ink quantity-relatinginformation may regard the remaining quantities of inks in the inkcartridges 107K and 107F or the amount of ink consumption with regard tothe ink cartridges 107K and 107F. The ink controller 40 also has anaddress decoder 95, which converts desired addresses in a memory cell 81(described later) of a storage element 80 (described later), at whichthe controller 46 requires to gain accesses (read and write), intonumbers of clocks. The controller 46 in the print controller 40generally processes data by the unit of 8 bits or 1 byte. The memorycell 81 of the storage element 80 incorporated in the ink cartridges107K and 107F is serially accessed in synchronism with reading andwriting clocks. The address decoder 95 accordingly converts theaddresses to be accessed into the numbers of clocks.

The printer 1 determines the amount of ink consumption by calculation.The calculation of the amount of ink consumption may be carried out bythe printer driver incorporated in the computer PC or by the printer 1.The calculation of the amount of ink consumption is performed by takinginto account the following two factors.

(1) Amount of ink consumption by printing an image.

In order to accurately calculate the amount of ink consumption in theprocess of printing, image data are subjected to color conversion andbinarization processes and converted to on-off data of ink dots. Withregard to the image data in the on condition of ink dots, the weight ofeach dot is multiplied with the number of dots. Namely the frequency ofejection of ink droplets from the nozzle openings 23 is multiplied bythe weight of each ink droplet. The amount of ink consumption may beapproximated from the densities of the respective pixels included in theimage data.

(2) Amount of ink consumption by cleaning the print head 10.

The amount of ink consumption by cleaning the print head 10 includes anamount of ink ejection by the flushing operation and an amount of inksuction by the sucking operation. The action of the flushing operationis identical with the normal ejection of ink droplets, and the amount ofink ejection by the flushing operation is thus calculated in the samemanner as described in the factor (1). The amount of ink consumption bythe sucking operation is stored in advance according to the revolvingspeed and the activation time of the sucking pump. The amount of inkconsumed by one sucking action is generally measured and stored inadvance.

The current remaining quantity of ink is determined by subtracting thecalculated amount of ink consumption from the previous remainingquantity of ink prior to the current printing operation. The controller46 carries out the calculation of the remaining quantity of inkaccording to a specific program, for example, one stored in the ROM 45,using data stored in the EEPROM 90.

In the arrangement of this embodiment, the color conversion andbinarization processes are performed by the printer driver in thecomputer PC as described previously. The printer 1 thus receives thebinary data, that is, the data on the dot on-off conditions with regardto each ink. The printer 1 multiplies the weight of ink for each dot(that is, the weight of each ink droplet) by the number of dots todetermine the amount of ink consumption, based on the input binary data.

The ink jet printer 1 of the embodiment receives the binary data asdescribed previously. The array of the binary data is, however, notcoincident with the nozzle array on the print head 10. The control unit46 accordingly divides the RAM 44 into three portions, that is, an inputbuffer 44A, an intermediate buffer 44B, and an output buffer 44C, inorder to perform the rearrangement of the dot data array. The ink jetprinter 1 may alternatively carry out the required processing for thecolor conversion and the binarization. In this case, the ink jet printer1 registers the print data, which includes the multi-tone informationand are transmitted from the computer PC, into the input buffer 44A viathe interface 43. The print data kept in the input buffer 44A aresubjected to command analysis and then transmitted to the intermediatebuffer 44B. The controller 46 converts the input print data intointermediate codes by supplying information regarding the printingpositions of the respective letters or characters, the type ofmodification, the size of the letters or characters, and the fontaddress. The intermediate codes are kept in the intermediate buffer 44B.The controller 46 then analyzes the intermediate codes kept in theintermediate buffer 44B and decodes the intermediate codes into binarydot pattern data. The binary dot pattern data are expanded and stored inthe output buffer 44C.

In any case, when dot pattern data corresponding to one scan of theprint head 10 are obtained, the dot pattern data are seriallytransferred from the output buffer 44C to the print head 10 via theparallel input-output interface 49. After the dot pattern datacorresponding to one scan of the print head 10 are output from theoutput buffer 44C, the process erases the contents of the intermediatebuffer 44B to wait for conversion of a next set of print data.

The print head 10 causes the respective nozzle openings 23 to eject inkdroplets against the printing medium at a predetermined timing, so as tocreate an image corresponding to the input dot pattern data on theprinting medium. The driving signal COM generated in the driving signalgenerator circuit 48 is output to an element driving circuit 50 in theprint head 10 via the parallel input-output interface 49. The print head10 has a plurality of pressure chambers 32 and a plurality ofpiezoelectric vibrators 17 (pressure-generating elements) respectivelyconnecting with the nozzle openings 23. The number of both the pressurechambers 32 and the piezoelectric vibrators 17 is thus coincident withthe number of the nozzle openings 23. When the driving signal COM issent from the element driving circuit 50 to a certain piezoelectricvibrator 17, the corresponding pressure chamber 32 is contracted tocause the corresponding nozzle opening 23 to eject an ink droplet.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplified layout of the nozzle openings 23 on theprint head 10. The print head 10 has a plurality of nozzle arraysrespectively corresponding to the black ink (K), the cyan ink (C), thelight cyan ink (LC), the magenta ink (M), the light magenta ink (LM),and the yellow ink (Y). Each nozzle array includes the nozzle openings23 which are arranged in two lines and zigzag. (Structure of InkCartridges 107K, 107F and Cartridge Attachment Unit 18)

The black ink cartridge 107K and the color ink cartridge 107F, which areattached to the ink jet printer 1 having the above configuration, have acommon basic structure. The following description regards the structureof the ink cartridge, the black ink cartridge 107K as an example, andthe structure of the cartridge attachment unit 18 of the printer mainbody 100, which receives and holds the ink cartridge 107K, withreference to FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 5.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are perspective views schematically illustrating thestructures of the Ink cartridge 107K and the cartridge attachment unit18 of the printer main body 100. FIG. 5 is a sectional view Illustratingan attachment state in which the ink cartridge 107K is attached to thecartridge attachment unit 18.

Referring to FIG. 4A, the ink cartridge 107K has a cartridge main body171 that is composed of a synthetic resin and defines the ink chamber117K In which black ink is kept, and a storage element (non-volatilememory) 80 incorporated in a side frame 172 of the cartridge main body171. An EEPROM is generally applied for the storage element 80 that isrewritable by electrically erasing the non-required contents of storageand maintains the contents of storage even after the power supply is cutoff. The allowable frequency of rewriting data in the storage element 80is about ten thousand times, which is significantly lower than theallowable frequency of rewriting in the EEPROM 90 incorporated in theprint controller 40. This makes the cost of the storage element 80extremely low. The storage element 80 enables transmission of variousdata to and from the print controller 40 of the printer 1, while the inkcartridge 107K is attached to the cartridge attachment unit 18 of theprinter main body 100 shown in FIG. 4B. The storage element 80 isreceived in a bottom-opened recess 173 formed in the side frame 172 ofthe ink cartridge 107K. The storage element 80 has a plurality ofconnection terminals 174 exposed to the outside in this embodiment. Thewhole storage element 80 may, however, be exposed to the outside.Alternatively the whole storage element 80 is embedded, and separateconnection terminals may be provided independently.

Referring to FIG. 4B, the cartridge attachment unit 18 has an ink supplyneedle 181, which is disposed upward on a bottom 187 of a cavity, inwhich the ink cartridge 107K is accommodated. A recess 183 is formedabout the needle 181. When the ink cartridge 107K is attached to thecartridge attachment unit 18, an ink supply unit 175 (see FIG. 5), whichis projected from the bottom of the ink cartridge 107K, is fitted in therecess 183. Three cartridge guides 182 are set on the inner wall of therecess 183. A connector 186 is placed on an inner wall 184 of thecartridge attachment unit 18. The connector 185 has a plurality ofelectrodes 185, which are in contact with and thereby electricallyconnect with the plurality of connection terminals 174 of the storageelement 80 when the ink cartridge 107K is attached to the cartridgeattachment unit 18.

The ink cartridge 107K is attached to the cartridge attachment unit 18according to the following procedure. When the user operates thecartridge switch 92b on the switch panel 92 to give an instruction ofreplacing the ink cartridge 107K, the carriage 101 moves to a certainposition that allows replacement of the ink cartridge 107K. Theprocedure of replacement first removes the used ink cartridge 107K. Alever 192 is fixed to a rear wall 188 of the cartridge attachment unit18 via a support shaft 191 as shown in FIG. 5. The user pulls up thelever 192 to a release position, at which the ink cartridge 107K can beremoved from the cartridge attachment unit 18. A new ink cartridge 107Kis then located on the cartridge attachment unit 18, and the lever 192is pressed down to a fixation position, which is over the ink cartridge107K. The press-down motion of the lever 192 presses the ink cartridge107K downward, so as to make the ink supply unit 175 fitted into therecess 183 and make the needle 181 pierce the ink supply unit 175,thereby enabling a supply of ink. As the lever 192 is further presseddown, a clutch 193 disposed on a free end of the lever 192 engages witha mating element 189 disposed on the cartridge attachment unit 18. Thissecurely fixes the ink cartridge 107K to the cartridge attachment unit18. In this state, the plurality of connection terminals 174 on thestorage element 80 in the ink cartridge 107K electrically connect withthe plurality of electrodes 185 on the cartridge attachment unit 18.This enables transmission of data between the printer main body 100 andthe storage element 80. When the replacement of the ink cartridge 107Kis completed and the user operates the switch panel 92 again, thecarriage 101 returns to the initial position to be in the printablestate.

The color ink cartridge 107F basically has a similar structure to thatof the ink cartridge 107K, and only the difference is described here.The color ink cartridge 107F has five ink chambers in which fivedifferent color inks are kept. It is required to feed the supplies ofthe respective color inks to the print head 10 via separate pathways.The color ink cartridge 107F accordingly has five ink supply units 175,which respectively correspond to the five different color inks. Thecolor ink cartridge 107F, in which five different color inks are kept,however, has only one storage element 80 incorporated therein. Pieces ofinformation regarding the ink cartridge 107F and the five differentcolor inks are collectively stored in this storage element 80.

Structure of Storage Element 80

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the storageelement 80 incorporated in the ink cartridges 107K and 107F attached tothe ink jet printer 1 of the embodiment. FIGS. 7A and 7B show a datawriting process into the memory cell 81.

As shown in the block diagram of FIG. 6, the storage element 80 of theink cartridges 107K and 107F includes the memory cell 81, a read/writecontroller 82, and an address counter 83. The read/write controller 82is a circuit that controls reading and writing operations of data fromand into the memory cell 81. The address counter 83 counts up inresponse to a clock signal CLK and generates an output that representsan address with regard to the memory cell 81.

The actual procedure of the writing operation is described withreference to FIGS. 7A and 7B. FIG. 7A is a flowchart showing aprocessing routine executed by the print controller 40 in the printer 1of the embodiment to write the remaining quantities of inks into thestorage elements 80 incorporated in the black and color ink cartridges107K and 107F, and FIG. 7B is a timing chart showing the timing ofexecution of the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7A.

The controller 46 of the printer controller 40 first makes a chip selectsignal CS, which sets the storage element 80 in an enabling state, in ahigh level at step ST21. While the chip select signal CS is kept at thelow level, the count on the address counter 83 is set equal to zero.When the chip select signal CS is set to the high level, the addresscounter 83 is enabled to start the count. The controller 46 thengenerates a required number of pulses of the clock signal CLK to specifyan address, at which data are written, at step ST22. The address decoder95 incorporated in the print controller 40 is used to determine therequired number of pulses of the clock signal CLK. The address counter83 included in the storage element 80 counts up in response to therequired number of pulses of the clock signal CLK thus generated. Duringthis process, a read/write signal R/W is kept in a low level. This meansthat an instruction of reading data is given to the memory cell 81.Dummy data are accordingly read synchronously with the output clocksignal CLK.

After the address counter 83 counts up to the specified address forwriting data, the controller 46 carries out an actual writing operationat step ST23. The writing operation switches the read/write signal R/Wto the high level, outputs one-bit data to a data terminal I/O, andchanges the clock signal CLK to a high active state on the completion ofdata output. While the read/write signal R/W is in the high level, dataDATA of the data terminal I/O are written into the memory cell 81 of thestorage element 80 synchronously with a rise of the clock signal CLK.Although the writing operation starts synchronously with a fifth pulseof the clock signal CLK in the example of FIG. 7B, this only describesthe general writing procedure. The writing operation of required data,for example, the remaining quantity of ink, may be carried out at anypulse, for example, at a first pulse, of the clock signal CLK accordingto the requirements.

Data arrays of the storage elements 80, in which data are written, aredescribed with references to FIGS. 8 and 9. FIG. 8 shows a data array inthe storage element 80 incorporated in the black ink cartridge 107Kattached to the printer 1 of this embodiment shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 9shows a data array in the storage element 80 incorporated in the colorink cartridge 107F attached to the printer 1. FIG. 10 shows a data arrayin the EEPROM 90 incorporated in the print controller 40 of the printermain body 100.

Referring to FIG. 8, the memory cell 81 of the storage element 80incorporated in the black ink cartridge 107K has a first storage area750, in which read only data are stored, and a second storage area 760,in which rewritable data are stored. The printer main body 100 can onlyread the data stored in the first storage area 750, while enabling bothreading and writing operations with regard to the data stored in thesecond storage area 760. The second storage area 760 is located at anaddress, which is accessed prior to the first storage area 750. Namelythe second storage area 760 has a lower address than that of the firststorage area 750. In the specification hereof, the expression ‘loweraddress’ means an address closer to the head of the memory space.

The rewritable data stored in the second storage area 760 include firstdata on the remaining quantity of black ink and second data on theremaining quantity of black ink that are respectively allocated to firstand second black ink remaining quantity memory divisions 701 and 702,which are accessed in this order.

There are the two black ink remaining quantity memory divisions 701 and702 for storing the data on the remaining quantity of black ink. Thisarrangement enables the data on the remaining quantity of black ink tobe written alternately in these two memory divisions 701 and 702. If thelatest data on the remaining quantity of black ink is stored in thefirst black ink remaining quantity memory division 701, the data on theremaining quantity of black ink stored in the second black ink remainingquantity memory division 702 is the previous data immediately before thelatest data, and the next writing operation is performed in the secondblack ink remaining quantity memory division 702.

The read only data stored in the first storage area 750 include data onthe time (year) of unsealing the ink cartridge 107K, data on the time(month) of unsealing the ink cartridge 107K, version data of the inkcartridge 107K, data on the type of ink, for example, a pigment or adye, data on the year of manufacture of the ink cartridge 107K, data onthe month of manufacture of the ink cartridge 107K, data on the date ofmanufacture of the ink cartridge 107K, data on the production line ofthe ink cartridge 107K, serial number data of the ink cartridge 107K,and data on recycling showing whether the ink cartridge 107K is new orrecycled, which are respectively allocated to memory divisions 711through 720 that are accessed in this order.

Referring to FIG. 9, the memory cell 81 of the storage element 80incorporated in the color ink cartridge 107F has a first storage area650, in which read only data are stored, and a second storage area 660,in which rewritable data are stored. The printer main body 100 can onlyread the data stored in the first storage area 650, while enabling bothreading and writing operations with regard to the data stored in thesecond storage area 660. The second storage area 660 is located at anaddress, which is accessed prior to the first storage area 650. Namelythe second storage area 660 has a lower address (that is, an addresscloser to the head) than that of the first storage area 650.

The rewritable data stored in the second storage area 660 include firstdata on the remaining quantity of cyan ink, second data on the remainingquantity of cyan ink, first data on the remaining quantity of magentaink, second data on the remaining quantity of magenta ink, first data onthe remaining quantity of yellow ink, second data on the remainingquantity of yellow ink, first data on the remaining quantity of lightcyan ink, second data on the remaining quantity of light cyan ink, firstdata on the remaining quantity of light magenta ink, and second data onthe remaining quantity of light magenta ink that are respectivelyallocated to color ink remaining quantity memory divisions 601 through610, which are accessed in this order.

In the same manner as the black ink cartridge 107K, there are the twomemory division, that is, the first color ink remaining quantity memorydivision 601 (603, 605, 607, 609) and the second color ink remainingquantity memory division 602 (604, 606, 608, 610), for storing the dataon the remaining quantity of each color ink. This arrangement enablesthe data on the remaining quantity of each color ink to be rewrittenalternately in these two memory divisions.

Like the black ink cartridge 107K, the read only data stored in thefirst storage area 650 include data on the time (year) of unsealing theink cartridge 107F, data on the time (month) of unsealing the inkcartridge 107F, version data of the ink cartridge 107F, data on the typeof ink, data on the year of manufacture of the ink cartridge 107F, dataon the month of manufacture of the ink cartridge 107F, data on the dateof manufacture of the ink cartridge 107F, data on the production line,serial number data, and data on recycling that are respectivelyallocated to memory divisions 611 through 620, which are accessed inthis order. These data are common to all the color inks, so that onlyone set of data are provided and stored as common data to all the colorinks.

When the power source 91 of the printer 1 is turned on after the inkcartridges 107K and 107F are attached to the printer main body 100,these data are read by the printer main body 100 and stored into theEEPROM 90 incorporated in the printer main body 100. As shown in FIG.10, memory divisions 801 through 835 in the EEPROM 90 store all the datastored in the respective storage elements 80 including the remainingquantities of the respective inks in the black ink cartridge 107K andthe color ink cartridge 107F.

Operation of Printer 1

The following describes a series of basic processings carried out the bythe ink jet printer 1 of the embodiment between a power-on time and apower-off time of the printer 1 and a difference between the allowablefrequencies of writing into the storage element 80 and the EEPROM 90,with referring to the flowcharts of FIGS. 11 through 13. FIG. 11 is aflowchart showing a processing routine executed at a time of powersupply to the printer 1. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a processingroutine to calculate the remaining quantity of ink. FIG. 13 is aflowchart showing a processing routine executed at a power-off time ofthe printer 1.

The controller 46 executes the processing routine of FIG. 11 immediatelyafter the start of power supply. When the power source 91 of the printer1 is turned on, the controller 46 first determines whether or not theink cartridge 107K or 107F has just been replaced at step S30. Thedecision of step S30 is carried out, for example, by referring to an inkcartridge replacement flag in the case where the EEPROM 90 has the inkcartridge replacement flag, or in another example, based on datarelating to the time (hour and minute) of manufacture or the productionserial number with regard to the ink cartridge 107K or 107F. In the caseof power-on without replacement of the ink cartridges 107K and 107F,that is, in the case of a negative answer at step S30, the controller 46reads the data from the respective storage elements 80 of the inkcartridges 107K and 107F at step S31.

When it is determined that the ink cartridge 107K or 107F has just beenreplaced, that is, in the case of an affirmative answer at step S30, onthe other hand, the controller 46 increments the frequency of attachmentby one and writes the incremented frequency of attachment into thestorage element 80 of the ink cartridge 107K or 107F at step S32. Thecontroller 46 then reads the data from the respective storage elements80 of the ink cartridges 107K and 107F at step S31. The controller 46subsequently writes the read-out data at preset addresses in the EEPROM90 at step S33. At subsequent step S34, the controller 46 determineswhether or not the ink cartridges 107K and 107F attached to the ink jetprinter 1 are suitable for the ink jet printer 1, based on the datastored in the EEPROM 90. When suitable, that is, in the case of anaffirmative answer at step S34, a printing operation is allowed at stepS35. This completes the preparation for printing, and the program exitsfrom the processing routine of FIG. 11. When not suitable, that is, inthe case of a negative answer at step S34, on the contrary, the printingoperation is not allowed, and information representing the prohibitionof printing is displayed on either the switch panel 92 or the display MTat step S36.

In the case where the printing operation is allowed at step S35, theprinter 1 carries out a predetermined printing process in response to aprinting instruction output from the computer PC. At this moment, thecontroller 46 transfers print data to the print head 10 and calculatesthe remaining quantity of each ink. The processing routine executed inthis state is described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 12. Whenthe program enters the printing process routine shown in FIG. 12, thecontroller 46 first reads data on the remaining quantity of each ink Infrom the EEPROM 90 incorporated in the print controller 40 at step S40.The data In is written on completion of the previous cycle of printingoperation and represents the latest remaining quantity of each ink. Thecontroller 46 then inputs print data from the computer PC at step S41.In the structure of this embodiment, the required image processing likecolor conversion and binarization is all carried out in the computer PC,and the printer 1 receives the binary data with regard to apredetermined number of raster lines, that is, the on-off data of inkdots. The controller 46 subsequently calculates an amount of inkconsumption ΔI based on the input print data at step S42. The amount ofink consumption ΔI calculated here reflects not only the amount of inkconsumption corresponding to the print data with regard to thepredetermined number of raster lines input from the computer PC but alsothe amount of ink consumption by the head cleaning action including theflushing operation and the sucking operation. By way of example, theprocedure of calculation multiplies the frequency of ejection of inkdroplets by the weight of each ink droplet to calculate the quantity ofink ejection with regard to each ink, and adds the amount of inkconsumption by the flushing operation and the sucking operation to thecalculated quantity of ink ejection, so as to determine the amount ofink consumption ΔI.

The controller 46 then sums up the amount of ink consumption ΔI thuscalculated to determine a cumulative amount of ink consumption Ii atstep S43. The amount of ink consumption corresponding to the input printdata is successively calculated, but is not written into the EEPROM 90on every time of calculation. In order to determine the total amount ofink consumption up to the moment, the procedure sums up the amount ofink consumption ΔI with regard to the input print data and therebydetermines the cumulative amount of ink consumption Ii. The controller46 subsequently converts the input print data to appropriate datasuitable for the layout of the nozzle openings 23 on the print head 10and the ejection timing and outputs the converted print data to theprint head 10 at step S44.

When the processing of the input print data with regard to thepredetermined number of raster lines is concluded, the controllerdetermines whether or not the printing operation has been completed withregard to one page at step S45. In the case where the printing operationwith regard to one page has not yet been completed, that is, in the caseof a negative answer at step S45, the program returns to step S41 andrepeats the processing of and after step S41 to input and process a nextset of print data. In the case where the printing operation with regardto one page has been completed, that is, in the case of an affirmativeanswer at step S45, on the other hand, the program calculates thecurrent remaining quantity of each ink In+1 at S46, and writes thecurrent remaining quantity of ink In+1 thus calculated into the EEPROM90 at step S47. The current remaining quantity of ink In+1 is obtainedby subtracting the cumulative amount of ink consumption Ii determined atstep S43 from the previous remaining quantity of ink In read at stepS40. The updated remaining quantity of ink In+1 is rewritten into theEEPROM 90.

The procedure of this embodiment updates the data on the remainingquantity of ink by the unit of page. This is because the printingoperation is generally carried out by the unit of page. One modifiedprocedure carries out the writing operation of data on the remainingquantity of ink with regard to a predetermined number of pages or withregard to one raster line or a predetermined number of raster lines.Another modified procedure determines that the printing operation hasbeen completed every time the print head 10 has moved forward andbackward by a predetermined number of times, and writes the data on theremaining quantity of ink into the EEPROM 90.

The updated remaining quantity of each ink In+1 is written into only theEEPROM 90 incorporated in the print controller 40 of the printer 1 atthe time of calculation. The same updated data on the remainingquantities of the respective inks are written into the storage elements80 of the black ink cartridge 107K and the color ink cartridge 107F whenthe power down instruction NMI is output. The power down instruction NMIis output at the following three timings as described previously:

-   -   (1) at the timing when the power switch 92a on the switch panel        92 of the printer 1 is operated to turn the power source 91 off;    -   (2) at the timing when the cartridge switch 92b on the switch        panel 92 is operated to give an instruction of replacing the ink        cartridge; and    -   (3) at the timing when the power supply is forcibly cut off by        pulling the power plug out of the socket.

With referring to the flowchart of FIG. 13, the process of storing thedata on the remaining quantities of inks into the respective storageelements 80 of the ink cartridges 107K and 107F is described. Theprocessing routine shown in the flowchart of FIG. 13 is activated byinterruption in response to the output of the power down instruction NMIas described previously. When the program enters the processing routineof FIG. 13, it is first determined whether or not the cause of theinterruption is forcible cut-off of the power supply (the timing (3)discussed above) at step S50. In the case where the cause of theinterruption is the forcible cut-off of the power supply, that is, inthe case of an affirmative answer at step S50, the allowable time isonly little and thus the program skips the processing of steps S51through S55 and writes the updated data on the remaining quantities ofinks In+1 into the respective storage elements 80 of the ink cartridges107K and 107F at step S56. The updated remaining quantity of each inkIn+1 written into the storage element 80 at step S56 has been calculatedaccording to the processing routine of FIG. 12. The technique discussedabove is applied to write the data on the remaining quantities of inksinto the respective storage elements 80 of the ink cartridges 107K and107F. The data on the remaining quantities of inks are written andstored into the second storage areas 660 and 760 of the respectivestorage elements 80. Here the remaining quantity of each ink isalternately written into the two memory divisions allocated to the ink.In accordance with one possible application, the execution of thestorage into each memory division may be identified by means of a flag,which is located at the head of each memory division and inverted oncompletion of the writing operation into the memory division.

In the case where the cause of the interruption is not the forciblecut-off of the power supply, that is, in the case of a negative answerat step S50, on the other hand, it is determined that the interruptionis caused by either the operation of the power switch 92a on the switchpanel 92 in the printer 1 to turn the power source 91 off or theoperation of the cartridge switch 92b on the switch panel 92 to give aninstruction of replacement of the ink cartridge. The program accordinglycontinues the printing operation in progress by a preset unit, forexample, up to the end of one raster line, and calculates the remainingquantities of inks at step S51. The calculation is performed accordingto the flowchart of FIG. 12. The controller 46 then drives the cappingunit 108 to cap the print head 10 at step S52, and stores the drivingconditions of the print head 10 into the EEPROM 90 at step S53. Thedriving conditions here include a voltage of the driving signal tocompensate for the individual difference of the print head and acondition of collection to compensate for the difference between therespective colors. The controller 46 subsequently stores counts on avariety of timers into the EEPROM 90 at step S54, and stores thecontents of a control panel, for example, an adjustment value to correctthe misalignment of hitting positions in the case of bidirectionalprinting, into the EEPROM 90 at step S55. After the processing of stepS55, the program carries out the processing of step S56 described above.Namely the controller 46 writes the updated data on the remainingquantities of inks In+1 into the second storage areas 660 and 760 of therespective storage elements 80 of the ink cartridges 107K and 107F atstep S56. In the case where the power switch 92a on the switch panel 92of the printer 1 is operated to activate this interruptive processingroutine of FIG. 13, after the writing operation of the remainingquantities of inks at step S56, a signal is output to the power source91 to cut off the power supply to the printer 1. In the case where thecartridge switch 92b on the switch panel 92 is operated to activate thisinterruptive processing routine of FIG. 13, after the processing of stepS56, the carriage 101 is moved to a specific position for replacement.These processes are not specifically shown in the flowchart of FIG. 13.

Effects of First Embodiment

As described above, the printer 1 of the first embodiment calculates theremaining quantities of the respective inks in the black ink cartridge107K and the color ink cartridge 107F, which are detachably attached tothe carriage 101 of the printer main body 100, with the progress of theprinting operation. The calculated data on the remaining quantities ofinks are written into the EEPROM 90 every time the printing operationhas been completed with regard to one page. The same data are writteninto the respective storage elements 80 of the ink cartridges 107K and107F only at the timings when the power switch 92b on the switch panel92 is operated to turn the power source 91 off, when the cartridgeswitch 92b on the switch panel 92 is operated to give an instruction ofreplacement of the ink cartridge, and when the power supply is forciblycut off. The data on the remaining quantities of inks are updated at ahigher frequency in the EEPROM 90, whereas the same data are updated ata lower frequency in the storage elements 80. This arrangement of theembodiment favorably restricts the writing frequency of the remainingquantity of each ink into the storage element 80 and thereby enables thestorage unit having a relatively low allowable frequency of writing tobe applied for the storage elements 80 of the expendable ink cartridges107K and 107F. This advantageously reduces the manufacturing cost of theink cartridge.

Although the frequency of rewriting data into the storage elements 80 isrestricted, the latest data on the remaining quantities of inks arestored in the EEPROM 90 of the printer 1. The arrangement of theembodiment accordingly does not have any adverse effects on themonitoring process of the remaining quantities of inks in the printer 1.The monitoring process may blink an LED mounted on the switch panel 92of the printer 1 when the remaining quantity of ink becomes equal to orless than a preset level. The monitoring process may alternativelyinform the printer driver incorporated in the computer PC of the factthat the remaining quantity of ink reaches the preset level and give analarm on the display MT connected to the computer PC. Since the latestdata on the remaining quantities of inks are kept in the EEPROM 90 ofthe print controller 40, the printer 1 can refer to the latest data onthe remaining quantities of inks according to the requirements andoutput an alarm representing the state of running out of ink at anadequate timing. These data may be utilized to display the currentremaining quantities of inks visually, for example, in the form of a bargraph, according to a utility program.

In the first embodiment, the remaining quantities of inks are writteninto the respective storage elements 80 of the ink cartridges 107K and107F every time the power down instruction NMI is generated. When thereis no change in the remaining quantities of inks, for example, in thecase where no printing operation has been carried out since the start ofpower supply, however, the remaining quantities of inks may not bewritten into the storage elements 80. Such a decision may depend upon aflag, which is set when there is any change in the remaining quantitiesof inks. In this structure, the value of the flag is read immediatelyafter the output of the power down instruction NMI. In the embodimentdiscussed above, the data written into the storage elements regard theremaining quantities of inks. There are, however, other data that arewritten into the EEPROM 90 and the storage elements 80 at differentfrequencies. By way of example, such data may regard the cumulative timeperiod of use of the ink cartridge or the state of application of theink cartridge.

The timings of the writing operations into the EEPROM 90 and the storageelements 80 are not restricted to those described above. For example,while the writing operation into the EEPROM 90 is performed M times, thewriting operation into the storage elements 80 is performed only once.When the cleaning switch 92c on the switch panel 92 is operated toactivate the sucking operation, the remaining quantity of inksignificantly decreases. The writing operation of data into the storageelement 80 may accordingly be carried out on completion of the headcleaning by the sucking action. In accordance with another preferableapplication, the frequency of writing into the storage element 80 iswritten into a specific area of the storage element 80. With an increasein frequency of writing, the timing of the writing operation is reducedto decrease the frequency of writing. In accordance with still anotherpreferable application, the writing operation of data into the storageelements 80 of the ink cartridges 107K and 107F is carried out when theuser gives an explicit instruction. For example, data may be writteninto the storage elements 80 when the user activates the printer driverand presses a ‘Write’ button provided in the printer driver or when theuser operates a switch for writing instruction provided on the switchpanel 92. This arrangement restricts the frequency of writing into thestorage elements 80. Another application monitors the frequencies of thewriting operations into the EEPROM 90 and the storage elements 80 andneglects a writing instruction of the user in the case where thefrequency of writing into the storage element 80 is undesirably high.

In another possible configuration, a buffer memory (RAM) is provided ineither the print controller 40 or the storage elements 80. Thecontroller 46 writes data into the EEPROM 90 and the buffer memory atidentical timings and thereby at an identical frequency. The timing ofwriting data from the buffer memory to the storage elements 80 isrestricted, for example, to the time of the cut-off of the power supplyand the time of a replacement of the ink cartridge. This arrangementalso desirably restricts the frequency of the writing operation into thememory cells 81, which have the restriction of the writing frequency. Asdescribed above, in the first embodiment, an inexpensive EEPROM, whichcarries out only the sequential access, is applied for the memory cells81 of the storage elements 80 included in the black and color inkcartridges 107K and 107F. Such application desirably reduces the cost ofthe expendable ink cartridges 107K and 107F.

In the arrangement of the first embodiment, the second storage areas 660and 760 in the storage elements 80, where rewritable data are stored,are located at addresses that are sequentially accessed prior to thefirst storage areas 650 and 750, where read only data are stored. Evenin the structure that carries out the writing operation of data into thesecond storage areas 660 and 760 after the power-off operation of thepower switch 92a on the switch panel 92, this arrangement ensurescompletion of the writing operation of data before the power plug ispulled out of the socket. The configuration of the first embodiment,which applies the inexpensive storage elements 80 enabling only thesequential access to decrease the cost of the ink cartridges 107K and107F, thus advantageously reduces the possible failure in the process ofrewriting the data.

In the first embodiment, data on the remaining quantities of inks arestored with regard to the respective inks in the ink cartridges 107K and107F. This arrangement enables the user to be informed of the remainingquantity of each ink and to receive an alarm representing the out of Inkwith regard to each ink.

Second Embodiment

The following describes a second embodiment according to the presentinvention. An ink jet printer and ink cartridges of the secondembodiment have structures that are substantially similar to those ofthe ink jet printer 1 and the ink cartridges 107K and 107F in the firstembodiment. The only difference from the first embodiment is that acontrol IC 200 is provided between the parallel input-output interface49 in the print controller 40 of the printer 1 and the respectivestorage elements 80 of the black and color ink cartridges 107K and 107F.Referring to FIG. 14, the control IC 200 is disposed between theparallel input-output interface 49 and the respective storage elements80 of the ink cartridges 107K and 107F and actually located on thecarriage 101. A RAM 210, which is a DRAM, is incorporated in the controlIC 200.

The control IC 200 is connected with the parallel input-output interface49 via four signal lines and transmits data to and from the parallelinput-output interface 49 by serial communication. The four signal linesinclude a signal line R×D, through which the control IC 200 receivesdata, a signal line T×D, through which the control IC 200 outputs data,a power down signal line NMI, through which the print controller 40outputs a requirement of writing operation at the time of power failureto the control IC 200, and a selection signal line SEL that allowstransmission of data through either the signal line R×D or the signalline T×D. These four signals are transmitted between the parallelinput-output interface 49 and the control IC 200 via a flexible printcable (FPC) 300. The controller 46 transmits required data to and fromthe control IC 200 using these four signals. The speed of communicationbetween the controller 46 and the control IC 200 is sufficiently higherthan the speed of data transmission between the control IC 200 and thestorage elements 80. As described in the first embodiment, the powerdown signal NMI is output when the power switch 92a on the switch panel92 is operated, when the cartridge switch 92b on the switch panel 92 isoperated, and when the power supply is forcibly cut off by pulling thepower plug out of the socket.

The control IC 200 has a function of separately transmitting data to andfrom the two storage elements 80. In the arrangement of the secondembodiment, one control IC 200 attains data transmission to and from therespective storage elements 80 of the black ink cartridge 107K and thecolor ink cartridge 107F. In the illustration of FIG. 14, in order todiscriminate the signal lines to the respective storage elements 80, asuffix ‘1’ is added to a power source line Power and respective signalsCS, R/W, I/O, and CLK with regard to the black ink cartridge 107K and asuffix ‘2’ is added with regard to the color ink cartridge 107F.

In the structure of the second embodiment, the controller 46 of theprint controller 40 in the printer 1 carries out the processing routineshown in the flowchart of FIG. 12. In the second embodiment, however,after calculating the current remaining quantities of inks In+1 at stepS46, the controller 46 writes the calculated current remainingquantities of inks In+1 not into the EEPROM 90 but into the RAM 210incorporated in the control IC 200. The controller 46 makes theselection signal SEL active to select the control IC 200 and writes thecurrent data In+1 on the remaining quantities of inks into the controlIC 200 through the signal line R×D by non-synchronous serialcommunication.

In the case of a press of the power switch 92a, a press of the cartridgeswitch 92b, or the forcible cut-off of the power supply, the printcontroller 40 outputs the power down signal NMI both inside the printcontroller 40 and outside the print controller 40, that is, to thecontrol IC 200. The control IC 200 receives the power down signal NMIand writes at least the data regarding the remaining quantities of therespective inks among the data stored in the internal RAM 210, into therespective storage elements 80 of the ink cartridges 107K and 107F. Thecontrol IC 200 carries out the writing operation into the storageelements 80 by the technique discussed in the first embodiment. As shownin FIGS. 7A and 7B, the technique first makes the chip select signal CSactive, then makes the read/right signal R/W in the high active state toselect the writing operation, and successively outputs the data DATAsynchronously with the clock signal CLK.

In the second embodiment discussed above, the data on the remainingquantities of inks, which are to be written into the storage elements 80of the ink cartridges 107K and 107F, are stored in the RAM 210incorporated in the control IC 200 that directly controls the datatransmission to and from the storage elements 80. The controller 46writes the data regarding the remaining quantities of inks into the RAM210 of the control IC 200 every time the data are updated, that is,every time the printing operation with regard to one page has beencompleted. Namely the latest data on the remaining quantities of inksare kept in the RAM 210 of the control IC 200. When the power downsignal NMI is output in response to the forcible cut-off of the powersupply, the data stored in the RAM 210 are immediately written into therespective storage elements 80 of the ink cartridges 107K and 107F,irrespective of the operations of the print controller 40 and thecontroller 46 therein. This arrangement desirably simplifies theprocessing of the controller 46 at the time of forcible cut-off of thepower supply and thereby significantly reduces the loading of theprocessing. In the second embodiment discussed above, the writingoperation of data Into the storage elements 80 of the ink cartridges107K and 107F is initiated by the output of the power down signal NMI.One possible modification transmits a standard command of the writingoperation through the receiving signal line R×D, so as to cause thecontrol IC 200 to initiate the writing operation of data.

In the arrangement of the second embodiment, the writing operation ofthe remaining quantities of inks into the RAM 210 of the control IC 200is carried out at a higher frequency, whereas the writing operation intothe memory cells 81 of the storage elements 80 is carried out at a lowerfrequency. This arrangement fulfills the contradictory requirements,that is, the storage of latest and accurate data and the restriction ofthe frequency of writing operation into the non-volatile memory cells81. The RAM 210 used in the second embodiment is a DRAM, which erasesthe contents of storage when the power supply to the printer 1 is cutoff. In the arrangement of the second embodiment, the control IC 200accordingly reads the data on the remaining quantities of inks stored inthe storage elements 80 and stores the data into the RAM 210 on a startof the power supply to the printer 1. The controller 46 reads the datafrom the RAM 210 at a first timing of calculation of the remainingquantities of inks (step S40 in the flowchart of FIG. 12) and uses thedata for the subsequent calculation of the remaining quantities of inks.

One modification of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 15 writes thelatest data on the remaining quantities of inks into the EEPROM 90incorporated in the print controller 40 at a certain frequency, which islower than the frequency of the writing operation into the RAM 210incorporated in the control IC 200 but higher than the frequency of thewriting operation into the memory cells 81 of the storage elements 80.In one example, the writing operation into the RAM 210 of the control IC200 is carried out at the timings of calculation shown in the flowchartof FIG. 12. The data on the remaining quantities of inks are writteninto the EEPROM 90 at certain timings when the printer 1 has somemarginal time in the course of the processing, for example, by aseparate interruptive routine. The same data are transferred to thestorage elements 80 at the timing of the power-off operation. Thisarrangement ensures the back-up of the data with the EEPROM 90 that hasthe restriction of the writing frequency, while enabling the latest datato be kept in the RAM 210 of the control IC 200. The latest data arewritten into the storage elements 80 of the ink cartridges 107K and107F, for example, at the time of forcible cut-off of the power supply.

In accordance with another modification of the second embodiment, thecalculated data on the remaining quantities of inks are written into aspecific area in the RAM 44 every time the printing operation withregard to one page has been completed in the processing routine of FIG.12. The data on the remaining quantities of inks are written into theRAM 210 incorporated in the control IC 200 by an interruptive routine,which is activated at a different timing from the timing of the writingoperation into the RAM 44. In this arrangement, the latest data on theremaining quantities of inks are kept on the RAM 44. Another possiblemodification backs up the contents of storage in the RAM 210 of thecontrol IC 200 by means of a battery or a mass storage capacitor. TheRAM 210 may be replaced with an EEPROM. The contents of storage in theEEPROM 90 incorporated in the printer main body 100 may not becompletely coincident with the contents of storage in the RAM 210 of thecontrol IC 200. Other pieces of information required for the controlprocedure as well as the pieces of information relating to the inkcartridges 107K and 107F are written into the EEPROM 90, whereas onlythe information relating to the ink cartridges 107K and 107F are writteninto the RAM 210 of the control IC 200.

The present invention is not restricted to the above embodiments ortheir modifications, but there may be many other modifications, changes,and alterations without departing from the scope or spirit of the maincharacteristics of the present invention. For example, dielectricmemories (FROM) may replace the memory cells 81 in the storage elements80 and the EEPROM 90.

The information relating to the quantities of inks indicates theremaining quantities of inks in the above embodiments, but may indicatethe amounts of ink consumption instead. The storage elements 80 may notbe incorporated in the respective ink cartridges 107K and 107F, but maybe exposed to the outside. FIG. 16 shows a color ink cartridge 500having an exposed storage element. The ink cartridge 500 includes avessel 51 substantially formed in the shape of a rectangularparallelepiped, a porous body (not shown) that is impregnated with inkand accommodated in the vessel 51, and a cover member 53 that covers thetop opening of the vessel 51. The vessel 51 is parted into five inkchambers (like the ink chambers 107C, 107LC, 107M, 107LM, and 107Y inthe ink cartridge 107F discussed in the above embodiments), whichseparately keep five different color inks. Ink supply inlets 54 for therespective color inks are formed at specific positions on the bottomface of the vessel 51. The ink supply inlets 54 at the specificpositions face ink supply needles (not shown here) when the inkcartridge 500 is attached to a cartridge attachment unit of a printermain body (not shown here). A pair of extensions 56 are integrallyformed with the upper end of an upright wall 55, which is located on theside of the ink supply inlets 54. The extensions 56 receive projectionsof a lever (not shown here) fixed to the printer main body. Theextensions 56 are located on both side ends of the upright wall 55 andrespectively have ribs 56a. A triangular rib 57 is also formed betweenthe lower face of each extension 56 and the upright wall 55. The vessel51 also has a check recess 59, which prevents the ink cartridge 500 frombeing attached to the unsuitable cartridge attachment unit mistakenly.

The upright wall 55 also has a recess 58 that is located on thesubstantial center of the width of the ink cartridge 500. A circuitboard 31 is mounted on the recess 58. The circuit board 31 has aplurality of contacts, which are located to face contacts on the printermain body, and a storage element (not shown) mounted on the rear facethereof. The upright wall 55 is further provided with projections 55aand 55b and extensions 55c and 55d for positioning the circuit board 31.

The ink cartridge 500 of this structure also enables the data on theremaining quantities of inks to be stored into the storage elementprovided on the circuit board 31, as in the embodiments discussed above.

The above embodiments use the five color inks, magenta, cyan, yellow,light cyan, and light magenta, as the color inks kept in the color inkcartridge 107F. The principle of the present invention is alsoapplicable to another ink cartridge, in which six or more differentcolor inks are kept. The present invention is further applicable to thestructure in which the ink cartridges are set to the printer main body100, as well as to the structure in which the ink cartridges are mountedon the carriage 101.

The scope and spirit of the present invention are limited only by theterms of the appended claims.

1. A printer, to which a cartridge is detachably attached, saidcartridge keeping ink therein and having a rewritable non-volatilememory, wherein the ink kept in said cartridge is transferred to aprinting medium, so as to implement printing, said printer comprising: amemory writing unit that writes plural pieces of information relating tosaid cartridge into said rewritable non-volatile memory of saidcartridge at a preset timing and thereby at a certain frequency; arewritable storage device incorporated in said printer main body of saidprinter; and an information writing unit that writes specificinformation into said rewritable storage device of said printer mainbody at a specified frequency that is higher than the certain frequency,at which the plural pieces of information relating to said cartridge arewritten into said non-volatile memory of said cartridge, the specificinformation being identical with at least part of the plural pieces ofinformation relating to said cartridge.
 2. A printer in accordance withclaim 1, wherein said information writing unit writes the specificinformation into said rewritable storage device of said printer mainbody at the preset timing as well as at another timing.
 3. A printer inaccordance with either one of claims 1 and 2, said printer furthercomprising: a print head that is mounted on a printer main body of saidprinter, wherein said cartridge is detachably attached to a carriage, onwhich said print head is mounted and which moves forward and backwardrelative to said printing medium, and said storage device of saidprinter main body is disposed on said carriage.
 4. A printer inaccordance with claim 1, wherein said memory writing unit writes theplural pieces of information into said rewritable non-volatile memory ofsaid cartridge at a power-off time of said printer and/or at a time ofreplacement of said cartridge.
 5. A printer in accordance with any oneof claims 1 through 3, wherein said information writing unit writes thespecific information into said rewritable storage device on completionof printing with regard to one page.
 6. A printer in accordance with anyone of claims 1 through 5, wherein said information writing unit writesthe specific information into said rewritable storage device oncompletion of printing with regard to at least one raster line.
 7. Aprinter in accordance with any one of claims 1 through 6, said printerfurther comprising: a print head that is mounted on a printer main bodyof said printer; and a cleaning unit that is activated in response to apredetermined operation, so as to carry out a head cleaning process,which causes said print head to eject a predetermined quantity of ink,wherein said information writing unit writes the specific informationinto said rewritable storage device at a timing when said cleaning unitis activated.
 8. A printer in accordance with claim 1, wherein saidnon-volatile memory transmits data by serial access, and said memorywriting unit writes the plural pieces of information into saidnon-volatile memory of said cartridge in synchronism with a clock forspecifying an address.
 9. A printer in accordance with claim 1, whereinsaid rewritable storage device of said printer main body is anon-volatile memory that holds contents of storage even after apower-off operation of said printer.
 10. A printer in accordance withclaim 1, wherein a writing rate of said rewritable storage device ofsaid printer main body is higher than a writing rate of said rewritablenon-volatile memory of said cartridge.
 11. A printer in accordance withclaim 10, wherein said rewritable storage device of said printer mainbody is either a DRAM or an SRAM.
 12. A printer in accordance witheither one of claims 9 and 11, wherein said rewritable storage device ofsaid printer main body is disposed in a control IC, which directlycontrols the writing operation of the plural pieces of information intosaid non-volatile memory of said cartridge.
 13. A printer in accordancewith claim 12, said printer further comprising: a print head that ismounted on a printer main body of said printer, wherein said cartridgeis detachably attached to a carriage, on which said print head ismounted and which moves forward and backward relative to said printingmedium, said control IC is disposed on said carriage, and said controlIC on said carriage transfers data to be written into said non-volatilememory from said printer main body to said cartridge via a cableconnecting with said carriage.
 14. A printer in accordance with claim 1,wherein both a black ink cartridge that keeps black ink and a color inkcartridge that keeps a plurality of different color inks are detachablyattached to said printer as said cartridge, and said memory writing unitwrites the plural pieces of information into non-volatile memories,which are respectively provided in said black ink cartridge and saidcolor ink cartridge.
 15. A printer in accordance with claim 1, whereinsaid memory writing unit writes the plural pieces of information intosaid non-volatile memory of said cartridge, before said informationwriting unit writes the specific information into said rewritablestorage device of said printer main body.
 16. A printer in accordancewith claim 1, wherein said memory writing unit writes the plural piecesof information into said non-volatile memory of said cartridge, afterthe writing operation of said information writing unit into saidrewritable storage device of said printer main body is completed.
 17. Aprinter in accordance with claim 1, said printer further comprising: anidentification unit that determines whether or not contents of storagein said non-volatile memory of said cartridge are coincident withcontents of storage in said rewritable storage device of said printermain body at a time of power supply to said printer and/or at a time ofinitiating a replacement of said cartridge; and a reconciliation unitthat reconciles the contents of storage in one of said non-volatilememory and said rewritable storage device with the contents of storagein the other of said non-volatile memory and said rewritable storagedevice, in the case where said identification unit determines that thecontents of storage in said non-volatile memory are not coincident withthe contents of storage in said rewritable storage device.
 18. A methodof managing information in a printer, to which a cartridge is detachablyattached, said cartridge keeping ink therein and having a rewritablenon-volatile memory, wherein the ink kept in said cartridge istransferred to a printing medium, so as to implement printing, saidmethod comprising the steps of: writing plural pieces of informationrelating to said cartridge into said rewritable non-volatile memory ofsaid cartridge at a preset timing and thereby at a certain frequency;and writing specific information into a rewritable storage deviceincorporated in said printer main body of said printer at a specifiedfrequency that is higher than the certain frequency, at which the pluralpieces of information relating to said cartridge are written into saidnon-volatile memory of said cartridge, the specific information beingidentical with at least part of the plural pieces of informationrelating to said cartridge.
 19. A cartridge keeping ink therein andhaving a rewritable non-volatile memory, said cartridge being detachablyattached to a printer, wherein information relating to said cartridge iswritten into said non-volatile memory of said cartridge at a certainfrequency that is lower than a specified frequency, at which theinformation relating to said cartridge is written into a storage deviceincorporated in a printer main body of said printer.
 20. A cartridge inaccordance with claim 19, wherein the information relating to saidcartridge is written into said non-volatile memory of said cartridge ata power-off time of said printer and/or at a time of replacement of saidcartridge.
 21. A cartridge in accordance with claim 19, wherein saidnon-volatile memory transmits data by serial access, and the writingoperation of the information relating to said cartridge into saidnon-volatile memory is carried out synchronously with a clock forspecifying an address.
 22. A cartridge in accordance with claim 19,wherein the information relating to said cartridge is written into saidnon-volatile memory of said cartridge, before the information is writteninto said storage device of said printer main body.
 23. A cartridge inaccordance with claim 19, wherein the information relating to saidcartridge is written into said non-volatile memory of said cartridge,after the writing operation of the information into said storage deviceof said printer main body is completed.
 24. A cartridge in accordancewith claim 19, said cartridge comprising: an ink reservoir, in which aplurality of different inks are kept, wherein plural pieces ofinformation with regard to the plurality of different inks are writteninto said non-volatile memory of said cartridge.
 25. A cartridge inaccordance with claim 24, wherein said ink reservoir is parted into atleast three ink chambers, in which at least three different inks arekept, wherein said non-volatile memory comprises a plurality ofinformation storage areas, in which plural pieces of informationregarding quantities of the at least three different inks are storedrespectively and independently, and a storage capacity of at least onebyte is allocated to each of the plurality of information storage areas.26. A cartridge in accordance with claim 24, wherein said ink reservoiris parted into at least five ink chambers, in which at least fivedifferent inks are kept, wherein said non-volatile memory comprises aplurality of information storage areas, in which plural pieces ofinformation regarding quantities of the at least five different inks arestored respectively and independently, and a storage capacity of atleast one byte is allocated to each of the plurality of informationstorage areas.
 27. A cartridge in accordance with claim 26, wherein theat least five different inks comprise three deep color inks and twolight color inks, which correspond to two deep colors among the threedeep color inks, the information storage areas for storing pieces ofinformation regarding the three deep color inks being located in a firstarea that Is written first by said printer, and the information storageareas for storing pieces of information regarding the two light colorinks being located in a second area that is written next by saidprinter.
 28. A cartridge in accordance with claim 27, wherein the threedeep color inks are cyan, magenta, and yellow, and the two light colorinks are light cyan and light magenta.
 29. A cartridge in accordancewith claim 24, wherein said non-volatile memory has a specific writingarea, in which the plural pieces of information are written, on one endof a memory space thereof.
 30. A cartridge in accordance with claim 19,wherein said non-volatile memory is an EEPROM.
 31. A printer, to which acartridge can be detachably mounted, the cartridge keeping ink thereinand having a rewritable non-volatile memory, wherein the ink kept in thecartridge is transferred to a printing medium, so as to implementprinting, said printer comprising: a print head that is mounted on aprinter main body of said printer for ejecting ink while moving; amemory writing unit that writes plural pieces of information relating tothe cartridge into the rewritable non-volatile memory of the cartridge;a rewritable storage device incorporated in said printer main body ofsaid printer; and an information writing unit that writes specificinformation relating to consumption of ink from the cartridge into saidrewritable storage device of said printer main body at a first timing,and writes specific information relating to consumption of ink from thecartridge into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge at a secondtiming, the first timing corresponding to a completion of movement bythe print head for printing of at least one of a line and a page, thefirst timing being different from the second timing, wherein the writingof the specific information to the non-volatile memory of the cartridgeis not triggered based on a movement of the print head, and at leastsome of the specific information and the plural pieces of informationrelating to the cartridge are the same.
 32. A printer in accordance withclaim 31, wherein said information writing unit writes the specificinformation into said rewritable storage device of said printer mainbody at a preset timing as well as at a timing that differs from thepreset timing.
 33. A printer in accordance with either one of claims 31or 32, further comprising: a carriage to which the cartridge isdetachably attached, and on which said print head is mounted and whichmoves forward and backward relative to the printing medium, and saidstorage device of said printer main body is disposed on said carriage.34. A printer in accordance with claim 31, wherein said memory writingunit writes the plural pieces of information into said rewritablenon-volatile memory of the cartridge at at least one of a power-off timeof said printer and a time of replacement of the cartridge.
 35. Aprinter in accordance with claim 31, wherein said non-volatile memorytransmits data by serial access, and said memory writing unit writes theplural pieces of information into the non-volatile memory of thecartridge in synchronism with a clock for specifying an address.
 36. Aprinter in accordance with claim 35, wherein said rewritable storagedevice of said printer main body is either a DRAM or an SRAM.
 37. Aprinter in accordance with claim 31, wherein said rewritable storagedevice of said printer main body is a non-volatile memory that retainsinformation even after a power-off operation of said printer.
 38. Aprinter in accordance with claim 31, wherein a writing rate of saidrewritable storage device of said printer main body is higher than awriting rate of the rewritable non-volatile memory of the cartridge. 39.A printer in accordance with claim 31, wherein the cartridge includesboth a black ink cartridge that keeps black ink and a color inkcartridge that keeps a plurality of different color inks and which areboth detachably attached to said printer, and said memory writing unitwrites the plural pieces of information into non-volatile memories,which are respectively provided in the black ink cartridge and the colorink cartridge.
 40. A printer in accordance with claim 31, wherein saidmemory writing unit writes the plural pieces of information into thenon-volatile memory of the cartridge, before said information writingunit writes the specific information into said rewritable storage deviceof said printer main body.
 41. A printer in accordance with claim 31,wherein said memory writing unit writes the plural pieces of informationinto the non-volatile memory of the cartridge, and said informationwriting unit writes the specific information into said rewritablestorage device of said printer main body.
 42. A printer in accordancewith claim 31, wherein said memory writing unit writes the plural piecesof information into the non-volatile memory of the cartridge, after thewriting operation of said information writing unit into said rewritablestorage device of said printer main body is completed.
 43. A printer inaccordance with claim 31, said printer further comprising: anidentification unit that determines if contents stored in thenon-volatile memory of the cartridge are coincident with contents storedin said rewritable storage device of said printer main body at a time ofpower supply to said printer and/or at a time of initiating areplacement of the cartridge; and a reconciliation unit that reconcilesthe contents stored in one of the non-volatile memory and saidrewritable storage device with the contents stored in the other of thenon-volatile memory and said rewritable storage device, in the casewhere said identification unit determines that the contents stored inthe non-volatile memory are not coincident with the contents stored insaid rewritable storage device.
 44. A printer, to which a cartridge canbe detachably mounted, the cartridge keeping ink therein and having arewritable non-volatile memory, wherein the ink kept in the cartridge istransferred to a printing medium, so as to implement printing, saidprinter comprising: a print head that is mounted on a printer main bodyof said printer; a memory writing unit that writes plural pieces ofinformation relating to the cartridge into the rewritable non-volatilememory of the cartridge; a rewritable storage device incorporated insaid printer main body of said printer; an information writing unit thatwrites specific information relating to consumption of ink from thecartridge into said rewritable storage device of said printer main bodyat a first timing and writes specific information relating toconsumption of ink from the cartridge into the non-volatile memory ofthe cartridge at a second timing, the first timing corresponding to anoperation of the printer, the first timing being different from thesecond timing, wherein the writing of the specific information to thenon-volatile memory of the cartridge is not triggered based on amovement of the print head, and at least some of the specificinformation and the plural pieces of information relating to thecartridge are the same; and a cleaning unit that responds to aparticular action of the printer by performing a head cleaning processthat causes said print head to eject a predetermined quantity of ink,wherein said information writing unit writes the specific informationinto said rewritable storage device at a timing when said cleaning unitperforms the head cleaning process.
 45. A printer in accordance witheither one of claims 44 or 37, wherein said rewritable storage device ofsaid printer main body is disposed in a control IC, which directlycontrols the writing operation of the plural pieces of information intothe non-volatile memory of the cartridge.
 46. A printer in accordancewith claim 45, wherein the cartridge is detachably attached to acarriage, on which said print head is mounted and which moves forwardand backward relative to the printing medium, said control IC isdisposed on said carriage, and said control IC on said carriagetransfers data to be written into the non-volatile memory from saidprinter main body to the cartridge via a cable connecting with saidcarriage.
 47. A method of managing information in a printer having amovable print head for ejecting ink while moving, to which printer acartridge can be detachably mounted, the cartridge keeping ink thereinand having a rewritable non-volatile memory, wherein the ink kept in thecartridge is transferred to a printing medium, so as to implementprinting, said method comprising the steps of writing plural pieces ofinformation relating to the cartridge into the rewritable non-volatilememory of the cartridge; and writing specific information relating to aconsumption of ink from the cartridge into a rewritable storage deviceincorporated in said printer main body of said printer at a first timingcorresponding to a completion of movement by the print head for printingof at least one of a line and a page, and writing a specific informationrelating to consumption of ink from the cartridge into the non-volatilememory of the cartridge at a second timing, the first timing beingdifferent from the second timing, wherein the writing of the specificinformation to the non-volatile memory of the cartridge is not triggeredbased on a movement of the print head, and at least some of the specificinformation and the plural pieces of information relating to thecartridge are the same.
 48. A cartridge for use with a printer that canwrite information to the cartridge and to a storage device in a printermain body of the printer, the printer having a movable print head forejecting ink while moving, and outputting a clock signal, comprising: anink; and a rewritable non-volatile memory that can receive and transmitdata, wherein said cartridge is configured to be detachably mounted onthe printer, and wherein information relating to consumption of ink fromsaid cartridge is written by the printer into said non-volatile memoryof said cartridge at a second timing different from a first timing withwhich the information relating to said cartridge is written by theprinter into the storage device incorporated in a printer main body ofthe printer, the first timing corresponding to a completion of movementby the print head for printing of at least one of a line and a page, andwherein the writing of the specific information to said non-volatilememory of said cartridge is not triggered based on a movement of theprint head.
 49. A cartridge in accordance with claim 48, wherein theinformation relating to said cartridge is written into said non-volatilememory of said cartridge at a power-off time of the printer and/or at atime of replacement of said cartridge.
 50. A cartridge in accordancewith claim 48, wherein said non-volatile memory transmits data in aserial access format, and the writing operation of the informationrelating to said cartridge into said non-volatile memory is carried outsynchronously with the clock signal from the printer for specifying anaddress of said non-volatile memory where writing occurs.
 51. Acartridge in accordance with claim 48, wherein the information relatingto said cartridge is written into said non-volatile memory of saidcartridge, before the information is written into the storage device ofthe printer main body.
 52. A cartridge in accordance with claim 48,wherein the information relating to said cartridge is written into saidnon-volatile memory of said cartridge, after the writing operation ofthe information into the storage device of the printer main body iscompleted.
 53. A cartridge in accordance with claim 48, wherein theinformation relating to said cartridge is written into said non-volatilememory of said cartridge at a power-off time of the printer and/or at areplacement time of said cartridge.
 54. A cartridge in accordance withclaim 48, wherein said non-volatile memory is an EEPROM.